Who designed the star logo for the American Revolution Bicentennial celebrated in 1976?

Bruce N. Blackburn designed the star logo for the American Revolution Bicentennial celebrated in 1976.

Blackburn was an American graphic designer whose work included both the Bicentennial symbol and NASA’s “worm” logotype. The Bicentennial design used a white five-point star inside a stylized red, white, and blue star. Its form was intended to suggest the passage of multiple centuries while avoiding an overly militaristic appearance.

The symbol appeared well before the main 1976 celebrations. It was used on a special U.S. postage stamp in 1971 and later appeared on official stationery, flags, tax forms, consumer products, trains, and other public displays. NASA also painted it on the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.

People sometimes confuse Blackburn with Richard Danne because the two designers collaborated on NASA’s 1970s logotype. They were separate projects: Blackburn created the Bicentennial star, while Blackburn and Danne jointly designed the NASA “worm” logo. Blackburn later received a Presidential Design Award in 1984.